This anime keeps getting compared with Gantz
everytime I mention it to someone. As I have seen both I must sadly
admit that this comparison is applicable. Like Gantz, this series has
an excellent premise that gets wasted on excess gore, character cliches
and a tediously dragged out plot.

To its defense though,
Elfen Lied has something that Gantz does not, and that is a heart. You
can see through situations in the series that the creators are trying
to make a point of the loners and outcasts of society. Sadly, they went
for the "road most travelled" by including distracting plot devices
that very much take away from a simple story.

The animation for this series is what is to be expected for an anime of its time, no more no less. As a result, the background are rendered beautifully and the frame rate
is excellent. I was not a big fan of the character design because I got
the feeling from it that I was expected to feel more touched by the
gore because these things were happening to "pretty" characters.

The
other problem this created for the series was that it resulted in an
unconvincing look for the characters after they had been battered or
ripped to shreds. It was almost comical to see some of those dead
bodies as the artists had trouble making a convincing look for them.
Another thing about the animation, more precisely the Art I did not
like was the way the blood looked in the show. As the blood is quite an
important theme, this creates a problem for me.

For starters, most scenes with blood had the blood looking like a painted wall with hardly any rendering. Then
the excessive use of blood in general just made the series lessen its
impact overall as the blood lost its meaning by being presented so
often. Had they been more scarce in its usage, the blood would have had a much stronger impact on the viewer.

The sound here is mostly appropriate and suits scenes successfully. The only
concern I had was the overuse of the Lilium symphony for EVERY sad
scene. Like the blood element, it took away what was so special about
the song with excess. Lilium the song is a wonderful intro though and
the images that go with it are just another reminder of what could have
been. The outro is also a good little song but I was concerned with its atmosphere as that did not really suit the show.

The
voice actors in this were just decent overall. The standout would of
course be the one for Lucy as she is the only one who manages to bring
a none melodramatic tone to her character. The others were satisfactory
in bringing their character to life but the melodrama could get a bit
much at times.

The story is one of the aspects which show a lot of promise at the start. From
the first episode I thought I might actually be in for an interesting
and heartfelt exploration of one's inner torments with Lucy. What I got
was a tired old "personality disorder" with added amnesia on the part
of our male protagonist.

You'd think that would be enough
cliches to sustain a series but no, you also get your typical girl who
does not know how to deal with her feelings and instead spends time
punching the lead, and also a shy little girl who looks to have been
abused in one way of another since childhood.... can anyone say Love
Hina? Or most other harem show stereotypes? You even get a crazily
stubborn older gentleman trying to recapture Lucy for added emphasis...

And
to add insult to injury, the plot itself gets to a fairly stagnant
place somewhere in the third episode and remains there until the
eleventh, where another dinoclius comes in for some more twistedly
torturous gore scenes. The ending also leaves a bit to be desired.
I am usually a fan of open endings but here it just feels like they did
not know where to go with it all as opposed to them leaving things open.

As pointed out in a couple of paragraphs before, the characters are just harem stereotypes and unfortunately harem characters do not really suit the story. The
fact that these characters work (use the term loosely) for Love Hina
and other harem is that they are comedies. Elfen Lied wants to and
should be taken more seriously than Love Hina but it mildly succeeds in
this regard when it should incandascent.

Add the Nyuu twist
instead of a proper exploration of Lucy as a character and it just does
not work. The characters we had a chance to feel for are sadly dealt a
very short hand. These characters would be Lucy, Nana or their "father".

Instead,
most of the time we could get a useful flashback, you get Lucy, Kouta
and several other children acting cutesy. Except for one twisted
flashback which makes you feel for the murderer more than the victim.

The
creators should have looked at shows like Now and Then Here and There
or Berserk to see how to incorporate interesting plot devices or
flashbacks to have an anime that is more successful.

As if
it, you are left with a very sour taste in your mouth (much like with
Gantz) when you think of what could have been. However, the fact that
it is raved about so much means that there is an audience for that out
there. I also found it interesting when I was watching it but I now
unfortunately realise it was for all the wrong reasons. So if you
think this could be something you will enjoy, then go for it but if you
are one who likes a little more from your anime see Berserk and Now and
Then Here and There as they deal with these themes a lot better.

Finally, a review of Elfen Lied that I can agree with. I've always found this anime to be greatly overrated. I watched it after many friends recommended it to me, but I didn't understand what is so great about it. I'm not against gore or blood, but in this anime it was too much...to the point that it became boring & not the least shocking.

I didn't like any of the characters, too much cliche...

I totally agree with the two examples you provided. Indeed Berserk & Now & Then, Here & There are great anime series, They are in my top animes ^__^

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